Pressure was building on Nadine Dorries today over her appearance on reality TV as a Cabinet Minister attacked her for not looking after her constituents properly.

Andrew Lansley said Chief Whip Sir George Young had been right to suspend the MP for flying out to Australia to appear on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here without telling Tory Party chiefs about her plans.

Ms Dorries could also face deselection as a Conservative candidate on her return.

Mr Lansley told the BBC: “She shouldn’t be out of the country for a long period of time unrelated to her parliamentary responsibilities and unable to represent her constituents and look after [them] properly.

“My colleague the Chief Whip suspended the whip in illustration of how seriously we take the fact that she made no provision and was not engaging in her responsibilities properly.”

Constituents said they were“disgusted” with the Mid-Bedfordshire MP and warned that even loyal Tories will consider voting for another party in the next election if she is not deselected.

Nicola Neal, 38, from Flitwick, said she had emailed Ms Dorries about her sick child but not received a response only to discover that her MP was travelling Down Under.

She said: “She should be deselected. This is a dereliction of duty. The feeling among mums in the playground is one of disgust. Many Tory voters in the area do not want her as the candidate.”

Another constituent, Kayleigh Knight, tweeted: “Nadine Dorries is just the biggest joke going. It sickens me that she is my local MP.”

Ms Dorries will still be paid her £65,738 salary while away from the Commons for up to a month in addition to as much as £40,000 for her stay in the jungle. TV bosses are understood not to have told her of her suspension.

Budge Wells, deputy chairman of the local Conservative Association, said: “We are going to have a meeting of the executive, hopefully by Friday, to discuss the situation.”

Asked whether local voters are angry that Ms Dorries had left for Australia, Mr Wells said: “Yes. I’ve had a lot of letters and they are quite cross about it.”

He said deselection was a “very serious action” to take and added: “If nothing else we need to wait until the MP returns and explains herself to us.”

Some commentators claimed the suspension could backfire and Ms Dorries could even defect to the UK Independence Party.